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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Well, the (rather extended) family is due to arrive in T-minus 2 hours, my grandparents are already here helping with prep, and my mom and I have been up since 7 in the kitchen baking this year's classic Challah. It may not be Christmas Day, but the (some say not actually) Italian "Feast of the Seven Fishes" (okay, what kind of grammar is that?? FISH, people!!) is on tonight and we're hosting yet again. It's been a harrowing enough ride between menu planning, shopping and potluck-orchestrating, not to mention altercations between family traditions and schedules, to cause anyone to retreat to the safety of their room! My mom is totally unfazed by all this activity (or so she seems), even though she was struck with food poisoning at 3AM this morning. Props to her... I'm just trying to stay out of the way!

Given the stress levels (particularly mine, for some odd reason) this week, I'm not surprised that I turned to a soothing comfort food this afternoon when a snack craving hit. I had, in a fortuitous moment Monday morning, made a batch of fantastic roasted applesauce that I had adapted from my fellow Torontonian Kevin - the post had been staring at me, daring me to break down and make some leftover apples into the goodness that is spiced, caramelized fruit sauce. I opted for a chunky blend of Russets, Honeycrisps and Mutsus basically because it's what I had in the fridge, and it was (and is) fantastic plain, in oatmeal and as "jam" on toast. Excuse me, I'm going to get another bowl...

Have a very merry Christmas everyone, I'll be back on the 27th with more goodies!